What better place to get involved in a song than Carrie Fisher’s bathroom?" James Blunt once mused. What better place indeed?

After the news broke of Fisher's death this week, Blunt tweeted a moving, personal tribute to the Star Wars actress. But they were more than mere acquaintances – Fisher helped to kick-start his career.

In 2003, Blunt's breakthrough single You're Beautiful was still a long way off. When the former Army officer arrived in Los Angeles to record his first album, he was almost completely unknown: "[I] had no money, and couldn't find a decent studio," he later recalled. But at least he had a friend in the neighbourhood – and the Force was strong with her.

Carrie Fisher - in 90 seconds

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Blunt had met Fisher the previous year through his then girlfriend Dixie Chassay, a friend of Fisher's family. The unlikely pair struck up an instant friendship - "I was incredibly lucky to meet Carrie in London," he told The Australian.

"I needed a place to stay and she said I could lodge with her. She is an amazing person, my American mother in many ways."

On that first trip to LA, the British singer moved into her Beverly Hills home, composing songs under the watchful gaze of a cardboard Princess Leia.

She helped him choose a title for the album – Back to Bedlam – which went on to sell 11 million copies. "He didn't know what Bedlam was before I told him," she said. Her bathroom became his favourite recording space.

"I recorded the album in the bathroom because she had a piano there, and we didn’t have the budget to buy one or hire a studio," Blunt has said. "I never asked her why she had it in the bathroom."

She became one of Blunt's most high-profile fans, and tried to convert her famous friends to the cause: "I played his music to all my friends that came over, whatever celebrity crowd I could muster at my bungalow."

Carrie Fisher, Stephen Fry, James Blunt, Elliott Spencer and guests at the London Premiere of The Force Awakens Credit:
Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock

For his 2013 album Moon Landing, Blunt returned to chez Fisher to take advantage of both her bathroom, and her critical faculties. "She was the album’s first critic," he said at the time.

Fisher, a well known campaigner for mental health awareness, bonded with the former tank commander over his psychological issues.

"He'd never been to therapy and I've had enough for both of us, so we started talking quite deeply about his time in the Army and the kind of impact that had had," she said. "I was kind of his shrink/landlady."

Fisher even wrote a tongue-in-cheek biography for the singer's website under the pseudonym "The Landlady", telling readers that "James Blunt's family have served in one kind of army or another since 995AD."

Here's Carrie fisher and James Blunt walking the red carpet together at Star Wars premiere. Very odd pairing! pic.twitter.com/ejqROxdpqC

Over the years, the odd couple's friendship continued to surprise those who didn't know them personally. At the London premiere for 2015's The Force Awakens, eyebrows were raised when Fisher brought the singer along as her "date" for the evening.

On the red carpet, one journalist asked Blunt how they knew one another. "I walk her dog," he deadpanned.